Category Archives: Massachusetts

Research Assistant Possibilities in Emerging America Project

The Collaborative for Educational Services in Northampton is engaging in a very interesting research project that requires the assistance of some Spanish and Portuguese majors. Emerging America is a project in which the Collaborative is gathering primary resources for teachers to use in their classrooms. Spanish and Portuguese majors could be very helpful in finding material related to the United States Hispanic and Lusophone populations.

Teaching Spanish is not easy – but it’s worth it!

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Spanish is not easy. There’s so much involved in learning a language that I completely forgot about. By the time you’re a senior and at the end of the Spanish major, you’re not really focusing so much on the tedious, grammar things – it’s all big-picture, comprehension-level stuff. I completely forgot about learning things like the stem of a verb and different endings; trying to wrap my head around subject agreement.

The reason I mention this is because I am in the Spanish STEP (secondary teacher education) program, working on getting my license to teach Spanish in high school. I’m currently doing my pre-practicum with a Spanish 1 class at Northampton High School. Continue reading →

Spanish and Education

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If you are studying Spanish and are also interested in pursuing a career in education there are a few different paths you can take. One of which is teaching Spanish at the middle or high school levels. However, what has begun to interest me is dual language education. After coming back from being abroad my language skills have been greatly improved and I was much more comfortable speaking Spanish with teachers and peers. With this new found language confidence I began to think about my passion for teaching from a foreign language stand point. There is a school in Holyoke called the Metcalf school and they are beginning to implement Spanish dual language programs. I am currently working with a dual language first grade class, and it has been an absolutely incredible experience. For those of you who are unfamiliar with how a program such as this one works, children receive more or less the same instruction in both languages each day, but in separate classrooms. Continue reading →

Holyoke Tutorial

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Playing a sport at UMass has been a great experience and I would do it all over again, however, I was unfortunately not able to study abroad due to a demanding year-round schedule. I had always wanted to study abroad but it just wasn’t working out for me. When I met with my advisor (Albert Lloret) we discussed the possible options that allowed me to carry out my integrative experience requirement. The only realistic option was the Holyoke Tutorial. It wasn’t exactly what I had in mind for my integrative experience but it would have to do. Fast forward a few months and I am very happy to have had the opportunity to work with the children in Holyoke. Continue reading →

“So like… are you American?”

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If you know me, chances are you know that I am Polish. I flaunt my heritage so that people are forced to assume that I am proud of it. Walk past my apartment, and you’ll hear patriotic Polish ballads blasting as I study under my Polish map of the world, wearing my Polish soccer scarf. Yeah, I am that Polish.

Yet, this confidence in the culture of my family’s motherland has just recently become a defining trait of mine. As a child, I was paralyzingly embarrassed by the foreignness of my family. English is not my first language; I was a monolingual Polish speaker until age five upon integration into the American school system. I grew up with this absorbing focus on communication with people – more so with my frustration with my own inability to do so as well as my classmates. However, hearing and seeing my friends from the Latin@ community of my hometown speak to their families in Spanish changed my outlook on my own bilingualism, and my own dual-identity. I had always considered it as a disability of mine, and the structure of American school systems enforced that view. Continue reading →

Reflections/experiences: university, travel, UMass

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I began my university experience at McGill University as an International Development Studies major. This major and the general environment of the school were not a good match for me, but before transferring I desperately wanted to travel and study abroad. I decided to do a direct enrollment at the Pontifica Universidad Catolica de Valparaíso (PUCV), in Valparaíso, Chile. This meant that instead of going to Chile with a program I went as an independent student, allowing me to set-up my own living arrangements, class schedule, and extracurricular activities (this also means I didn’t pay a program but rather just paid university tuition, which is usually much cheaper). Continue reading →

How the Spanish Major, for me, translates into an MSW

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As my time at UMass comes to a close, I have begun to ask professors for recommendation letters to send to grad schools. As a Spanish major, the professors that know me best are those who teach within the Spanish Department, and they have asked me how my major ties to my desire to earn my Master of Social Work. My goal to become a LICSW is tied in every way to the pursuit of my Spanish major over the last 6 semesters. When I first started the major, it was because I had a talent for it, and I didn’t really know where it would lead me. I grew to love it, and eventually made the goal to become a medical interpreter. It seemed like a natural choice, given my experience with the healthcare system as a result of my mother’s ALS and that, as anyone that knows me knows, I love people and interacting with those from all different backgrounds and walks of life. However, as a result of taking the first course required for the Interpreting Certificate here at UMass as well as my time studying in Buenos Aires, Argentina, I realized that medical interpreting may be too restricting of my personality. I began to consider what career I could pursue where I would have more professional freedom to exercise my compassion and investment in the well-being of others, Continue reading →

Revisiting why Spanish is my major after a few eye-opening experiences

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When I first heard to the question, “Why is Spanish your major?” my response was that I enjoy speaking and learning the language, and would like to eventually be a Spanish teacher. I’m not really sure what my motives were for being a Spanish teacher, other than the fact that my mom is a Spanish teacher, so I’ve been exposed to the career my whole life. I envisioned my self teaching in a normal, middle-class, nearby town. Both my parents work in wealthy towns, which comes with its fair share of downsides, but after a few eye opening experiences, I realized that I am more drawn to working with a different kind of population. When I look back at my first news forum post about my major choice, it seems vague and unsure to me, but I think I have a little more direction now after some of my experiences this semester. Continue reading →

Why Choose Service Learning?

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Why choose Service Learning? I chose Service Learning because I was unable to go abroad but it was actually the best decision I have ever made. At first I was unsure what my opportunities would be or if there would be something I could fit into my already crazy schedule. Luis had introduced the entire class to Ellen Correa who works in the CESL department and I decided to set up a meeting with her in order to talk about my options. There are tons of service learning options offered by the university but not all of them apply to the Spanish major. Ellen told me about being a liaison for Education 377. In order to become a liaison it is necessary to have already taken the Education 377 course which I had done a year previously. In order to be a liaison you must do three things. First you must attend and facilitate discussions in the 377 course as a TA would. Second you must attend a Leadership in Service Learning class taught by Ellen. And finally you must continue your service learning experience at the site you worked at previously in Education 377. Continue reading →

ELL And Beyond

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All through high school I worked as a peer tutor, first for students that were from the area and needed assistance in basic high school courses like history and math. These courses were not the main focus of my interests but I understood them well enough, as well as the basic way I myself understood them and how others could use my techniques to learn, and I felt that I could apply that in a manner that would benefit the peers I worked and studied with. As my interest in Spanish began to develop (French and Spanish were the only classes offered at my school and we were only allowed to take one or the other; any other languages I took were through a newly implemented online program, and I sampled a little of Chinese and Italian) a favorite Spanish teacher of mine that had noticed my aptitude for languages kept approaching me and asking me to tutor kids that were having a hard time in her Spanish classes. It was about eighth grade when I started working with a seventh grader who needed help specifically with his Spanish. Continue reading →